Investment in Cincinnati neighborhoods was item one on the agenda of the Urban Markets Summit put together by Mayor Mark Mallory and the Cincinnati Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. National experts in community economic development, along with bankers, community groups and neighborhood leaders came together to figure out ways to help small businesses grow in Cincinnati.
The summit was the next step in Cincinnati's Shop 52 initiative, launched last year to encourage investment in the city's 52 neighborhoods. That included a "drill down study" that showed Cincinnati’s true buying power was 42 percent greater than reported in the 2000 Census.
The Feb. 21 summit "was about using our neighborhood assets to encourage small-business development," Mallory says. "Cincinnati’s neighborhoods are worthy of investment.” National organizations participating included the Community Reinvestment Fund, the New School for Management and Urban Policy, Local Initiative Support Corporation and Social Compact, which partnered with Mallory’s office last year to produce the Shop 52 study.
Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Jason Barron, City of Cincinnati
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